Cleveland Cavaliers made right choice in drafting Anthony Bennett (Speaking of Sports)

By JIM INGRAHAM

Friday, June 28, 2013

Why was everyone so surprised?

The owner of a casino decides to roll the dice on a power forward from UNLV? Duh! In hindsight it's a no-brainer. Too bad Anthony Bennett's first name isn't "Elvis."

Maybe then we all would have seen this coming -- that in the run-up to the draft it was inevitable that Dan Gilbert's basketball team would develop a hunk, a hunk of burning love for Las Vegas' best college basketball player.

My biggest concern was that Cavs pit boss Mike Brown, being the secretary of defense that he is, would pull the organization in the direction of shot-swatting Nerlens "No! No!" Noel, whose qualifications for being the No.1 overall pick in the draft were politely, poetically pulverized by ESPN analyst Jay Bilas who gently reminded everyone how insane it was that we were even having this conversation: "The guy has no offensive game, and he's on crutches."

Does that sound like a No.1 overall pick to you?

Jay Bilas rocks.

The teams drafting immediately behind the Cavs obviously agreed with them -- and Bilas -- that all's well that ends with no Noel. The next four teams, Orlando, Washington, Charlotte and Phoenix, likewise passed on him. New Orleans, with the sixth pick, finally selected him -- then immediately traded him to Philadelphia.

You think you had a bad week? In the first half hour of the draft Noel was rejected six times, by six different teams.

Maybe it was that haircut.

There's a temptation to applaud the Cavs' first pick -- viva Las Vegas! -- not for who he is, but for who he isn't: a skinny, offensively-challenged center whose rehab from surgery for a blown out knee won't be completed until Christmas, meaning he'll miss about 35 percent of his rookie season, and will have to play catch-up in the other 65 percent.

Cavs management clearly, and correctly, came to the conclusion that at this point it's not sound business sense to introduce the No.1 pick in the draft to the paying customers -- and then ask for their patience.

Patience?

Patience left years ago. Third boxcar, midnight train.

Which brings us to Anthony Benedetto, which is the real name of singer Tony Bennett, who left his heart in San Francisco, and is no relation to Anthony Bennett, who left his school in Las Vegas after his freshman year and became, go figure, seemingly out of nowhere -- a Cinderella story -- the surprise first player taken in the last NBA Draft hosted (or is it "hostaged"?) by outgoing NBA Commissioner David "His Smugnificence" Stern.

Bennett by all accounts is big, he can rebound, he can shoot, and he can score. Some feel he's a potential 20 and 10 guy in points and rebounds. So are we talking Zach Randolph here? If we are, Bennett should have been a consensus No.1 pick. Even if we're not, Bennett still addresses a need on the Cavs' roster. That need is for more talent. Bennett reportedly has some.

Play on, son!

This was a weird draft in that so many teams seemed intent on trying to limit the damage, rather than add usable pieces. Reason: there didn't seem to be many usable pieces. Certainly there were no "must have" players. There were far more "don't want" players -- which undoubtedly made it difficult for the Cavs to trade their first pick. The very reason why they wanted to trade that first pick is the reason they couldn't trade it -- there was no single player everyone wanted.

David Stern aside, it was not a sexy draft. Most of the top picks this year would not have been top picks in a sexy draft. A draft such as this year's can expose organizations that tend to struggle organizationally. Player evaluation, talent acquisition, roster construction -- the teams that traditionally flourish in those areas are the ones who have the best chance of finding the gems hidden in backwash drafts such as this.

A team like the San Antonio Spurs, who turned the 28th pick in 2001 into Tony Parker and the 57th pick in 1999 into Manu Ginobili.

This was the fifth time the Cavs have had the first overall pick in the draft. The first four times their picks were no brainers: Austin Carr, Brad Daugherty, LeBron James, and Kyrie Irving.

The fifth time, this time, it was a brainer.

It will take a while before we find out if Anthony Bennett really was the right pick with the first pick in this draft.

At this point all we know is that he's the right pick mostly because he wasn't the wrong pick.